Tag Archives: William McVicker

Gales are forecast and we are planning to make February even more blowy with a festival of woodwind.

Oboe: Joel Raymond visits Music Matters on Tuesday 9 February at 7.30p.m. when he will perform on Baroque and Classical oboes, and demonstrate his oboe-making equipment, allowing us to see how a log of wood can be transformed into a musical instrument.

Flute: Rachel Brown brings flutes to Music Matters on Tuesday 23 February; her focus is flutes in the time of Bach, but a flute from the Renaissance is also promised and an early French Baroque flute. Rachel has recently released a new Bach disc and we will get to hear tracks from this album as well as a performance live of the Bach Solo Partita.

Oboe and Clarinet: At Musical Offerings on Wednesday 24 February at 2.30p.m. Katie Clemmow and Margaret Archibald will explore the way in which oboe and clarinet have played alongside one another in orchestral and chamber music for more than three centuries.

Pipes were on display back in December when William McVicker, Curator of the Royal Festival Hall Organ, came to Whitgift House Chapel to play the little chamber organ resident there.

It was fascinating to be allowed to see the innermost workings of the organ behind its elegant façade, and to hear William explain how each individual pipe has its own character and tone colour dependant on the materials used and its size.

Whitgift Chapel organ: a church or domestic instrument?
William McVicker leads us through the organ repertoire, from the earliest known piece of organ music through to Wesley in the nineteenth century. There will be some audience participation and a chance to brush up on your history and an exploration of how the pipe organ works. Church or domestic instrument? Come and find out.

7 for 7.30p.m. in the Chapel at Whitgift House, 76, Brighton Road, South Croydon, CR2 6AB